Louisville Coach Jeff Walz didn’t think his team’s defense deserved the credit it received after the Cardinals pulled off the upset of this year’s — and perhaps any year’s — women’s NCAA Tournament. Fifth-seeded Louisville knocked off No. 1 ranked and defending national champ Baylor 82-81 to reach the Elite Eight, and then bounced eight-time national champion Tennessee 86-78 to reach the Final Four in New Orleans.

While Louisville’s “claw and one” defense was credited for the win over Brittany Griner’s team, Walz said people were missing the point.

“What we’ve been able to do is score the basketball the past three games,” Walz said. “(Everyone talks about) what a great job we did defensively against Baylor. I remind everyone that they average 81 points and we held them to 81. So we were average.

“But we were able to score 82 points and they allowed an average of just 54. So our ability to score the basketball right now is a bigger influence on how we’re playing than how we’re able to defend people.”

Louisville, one of three Big East teams in the Final Four, is considered the Cinderella team among No. 1 seeds UConn and Notre Dame, and No. 2 seed California. And that’s something Walz gladly encourages, even if he admits he’s also using his team’s underdog status as a motivational ploy.

“I think it’s a little bit of both. You’re always trying to find ways to motivate your team,” Walz said. “I think saying we’re the party crashers is a legitimate statement. If someone picking their brackets had us beating Baylor, did they have us beating Tennessee? We’re going to try to go with it, and run with it, and see where it can take us.“

Louisville head coach Jeff Walz smiles at a reporter's question during a news conference, Wednesday April 3, 2013, at the KFC Yum! Center practice facility in Louisville, Ky. Louisville plays California in a national semifinal game in the Final Four of the women's NCAA college basketball tournament in New Orleans on Sunday.The Associated Press

Here’s a look at Louisville:

Record: 28-8

Coach: Jeff Walz (sixth season, 147-64)

How they got here: The Cardinals not only knocked off two heavyweights, they built big leads before hanging on for wins over Baylor (a 19-point lead) and Tennessee (a 20-point lead). Louisville also beat Middle Tennessee State 74-49 in the first round, and Purdue 76-63 in the second.

Regular season: Louisville finished 11-5 in the Big East, its second-best league finish in school history, trailing only the 2008-09 14-2 team that reached the national championship game in the school's only other Final Four appearance.

Starting fivePos. Player Ht. Class Avg.

G Shoni Schimmel, 5-10, Jr., 13.9

G Bria Smith, 5-10, Soph., 9.2

G Antonita Slaughter, 6-1, Jr., 9.7

F Sara Hammond, 6-2, Soph., 10.8

C Sheronne Vails, 6-4, Jr., 4.0

Off the benchPos. Player Ht. Class Avg.

G Jude Schimmel, 5-5, Soph., 5.3

F Monique Reid, 6-1, Sr., 9.7

Louisville’s upside: The Cardinals love to shoot — and make — 3-pointers. The team hit 8-of-23 in the win over Tennessee, with the Schimmel sisters combining to make 6-of-15. Against Baylor, Louisville made a ridiculous 16-of-25 3s, with Slaughter hitting 7-of-9, and Shoni Schimmel making 5-of-8. For the season, the Cardinals averaged 5.8 3s a game (84th-best in the country), so if the team’s surprising run is to continue, the 3s will have to keep falling.

Louisville’s downside: The team’s weakness is its Final Four opponent’s strength. California is third in the country in rebounding margin at 11.3, while Louisville is 97th at 2.7. The Cardinals’ zone defense can be stingy, as Tennessee found out, and Walz, who devised the scheme that contained Griner, enjoys the game-planning side of coaching: “I love playing teams you don’t get to see that much because it makes the chess game more exciting,” he said. He’ll need to come up with a plan to keep Cal off the boards for Louisville to have a chance.

Outlook: Coincidentally, Louisville and Cal averaged exactly the same amount of points per game this season (72.3). So does that mean the teams are headed for an overtime or two?

The Cardinals are the second No. 5 seed to reach the Final Four, and just seven teams outside the top four seeds have made the Final four since the tourney started in 1982. No team seeded higher than fourth has ever won a Final Four game. Can Louisville re-write history?